ENGLISH
REFERENCE

give someone grey hair

idiom
Meaning

To give someone great frustration, confusion, or anxiousness.


Origin

first recorded 21st c.

The phrase is influenced by the popular belief that stress can cause the greying of hair (that link wasn't shown to be grounded scientifically until a January 2020 study on stress in mice for the Nature journal).

Examples
SIMPLE

My kids give me grey hair when they play near the road.

CONTEXTUAL

The constant delays in this project are really starting to give me grey hair.

COMPLEX

Managing a team of disorganized interns during the busy season will surely give me grey hair before the year is out.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    as if someone owns the place

    Alternative form of like someone owns the place.

  2. 02

    bad hair day

    A day when things seem to be unmanageable or go wrong.

  3. 03

    barnet

    [Cockney slang]hair

  4. 04

    beat someone round the ears

    To beat (a person) with blows about the head.

  5. 05

    bless someone with

    To give or bestow, as a gift from God.

  6. 06

    bring someone to their knees

    To defeat and make submit to orders.

  7. 07

    call someone every name in the book

    To call someone many abusive names.

  8. 08

    call someone everything but a child of God

    To call someone many abusive names.

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